What Love is Like
by Tomatosoup inc
Summary: Sesshomaru is engaged to be married to the wealthy Kagura Onigumo. Rin is the owner of a small out of the way flower shop. When the rich, stoic man, and the optimistic, dreaming, girl meet... will their realtionship spark? or burst into flames? #-shot
1. Flowers and Shooting Stars

The clock in the hall struck 11.

The tall young man in his twenties, stood by the window, hands clenched into fists as he watched the car drive out of sight.

Of course, he had been expecting his fiancé to be wealthy, and exceptional looking- but what had possessed his parents to choose, _**her**_?

Miss Onigumo was rich and definitely attractive. Yet her sly smiles and almost red colored eyes were certainly… interesting. Her father figure, whom couldn't have been much older than himself, was quite eccentric. With his long wavy black hair, undistinguishable eye color, (who would want to get close enough to the unusual man?) and his maniac laughing that would put a psycho-killer to shame. However rich and powerful they were, Sesshomaru wanted nothing to do with the crazy scheming, family.

But, as it turned out, he would be marrying the Onigumo woman within a few months time… it was not a pleasant thought.

"Sesshomaru?"

It was his stepmother, Izayoi, her pale skin lit up from the light of the street lamp out the window.

Agitated, he averted his gaze from hers.

"I know you're upset." She went on, her voice soft… and understanding.

Even more aggravated, he clenched his fist tighter. She? Understand, him? Ridiculous.

He shot a glare at her, which she ignored.

"Listen you're going to be 23 soon…"

"Yes, I am aware of that fact, Izay-"

"Sesshomaru, " She cut him off, an almost undetectable sharp tone to her voice, "as you should remember, you must be married by that time – and as you should also recall, Miss Onigumo was chosen because of her status, and wealth… but if you happen to meet another woma-"

"Out of the question." Inutaisho Youkai broke in, emerging from the shadows, as he looked upon his wife and son, "Sesshomaru will marry her , and that's that."

* * *

In an empty flower shop, a dark haired young woman, about the age of 20, sat at the counter, staring at the ceiling.

She knew it was late- that there would be no customers, that her shop was closed, but she sighed and glanced out the window… waiting for… something…

Outside, a star shot across the dazzling skies.

Eyes wide, she flew to her feet, and burst out the door, eyes glued to the stars, flying across the night sky.

"It's… beautiful." She murmured to herself, laughing softly.

Should she make a wish? She knew it was a childish hope that it would come true… but still…

Closing her eyes, she wished that Kagome Higurashi's bakery wouldn't get robbed again, that Miroku Shodoai would just settle down and date Sango Mizushima, and that her own life… would well… be, _**happy**_, at the very least.

Eyes snapping open, she giggled quietly, as she turned and walked back into her shop, locking the door behind her.

She had _known_ that something good would happen… and it had!

Containing another laugh, she started up the stairs.

"I was right..." she murmured almost accusingly to herself, "And that's that."

With a nod to herself in the mirror, she turned down the lights, and watched out the window as the stars glistened in their places in the sky.

* * *

"Sesshomaru, honey…" a voice murmured, as a pair of red-brown eyes looked straight into his, "Can you believe it? We'll be married in a few months…"

Her hand brushed his, and he pushed it away immediately.

Why his parents had thought he would be pleased with the though of being engaged to this woman, he would never know… sure she was rich and good looking… but that was all. He wasn't even sure if the vile creature even had a name.

Her dark hair was pulled up into a bun at the top of her head, jade and feather earrings hung from her ears, and red eyeliner and shadow framed her eyes.

Bright red lips were curved into a alluring smile, and she wore a long, sleeveless red dress, which was strange considering the pouring rain outside.

"I can hardly wait." She continued, placing a finger on his cheek.

"I can." He replied coldly.

She merely laughed, but it was a rather uneasy laugh. "Tsk, tsk, Sesshy. No need to be so rude."

Nearby, Inutaisho stood uncomfortably beside Naraku Onigumo, whom was cackling quite eccentrically.

Without another word, Sesshomaru turned away from her, and walked down the hallway, and bumped into his half-brother.

"Watch where you're going jerk." Inuyasha huffed, pushing him aside.

Sesshomaru returned the hostility with a glare.

"So… Mr. High-and-mighty… you're gonna get married to some evil woman who thinks she owns the world, huh." His brother snorted.

"What about you, 'little brother' you'll be in the same position next year." He replied coolly.

Inuyasha froze, then smirked, "Yeah, but I've have my girl picked out… I just need to talk things over with her…"

"You mean shout things out with her. I highly doubt that the woman who owns the bakery will oblige. It seems that she really hates you."

"I hate you." Inuyasha snarled, stomping away, leaving Sesshomaru in no better spirits.

* * *

"Ahh, but dearest Rin…" the black haired man with violet eyes went on, "Why not?"

"First of all Miroku… I keep the shop opened extra late on Saturdays, and besides… don't you want to be alone with Sango?"

Miroku fidgeted a bit, then let his eyes fly to the girl across the street at the bus stop, her long black hair up in a ponytail, and her eyes on the ground.

"Yes… but she'll say no… she doesn't trust me." He murmured, looking back at Rin.

"Just give it a try." She urged him, with a bright smile, "take her a few flowers… I can help you pick them out."

"Al…alright then." He finally agreed, decidedly.

As Rin showed him over to the flowers, she noted how nervous he seemed… he must be really uncertain of how Sango would react to be so different.

"This is nice." He stated, pointing at a red rose.

Typical. The red roses were the most popular of all the flowers she sold. They always seemed to associate them with love… which they did symbolize, but there were so many other flowers that could mean the same thing! Undying love, young love… you name it... yet everyone clamored for the red rose…

"Yes, it is." She approved, as she gazed at the flowers, then she picked one up and offered it to him. " Here you go. You can pay at the desk."

As she opened the cash register to receive his small amount of money, he cast her a curious glance. "why, one rose?"

"It symbolizes love." She replied winking, as he walked out the door.

Giggling to herself, she ran a finger through her brown hair.

Oh, how she loved her job. Who ever knew that owning a flower shop included knowing all the flower meanings, and matchmaking? Yet it did.

Stretching her arms, she looked about her shop, and decided that it was time to take a break.

* * *

Looking out the window, Sessshomaru watched as the Onigumo's car left the house. As soon as he was sure it was safe, he walked down the stares, and into the living room, where his father and stepmother both sat on the couch looking quite exhausted.

"Well… its too late now…" he heard his father mutter, as he entered the room, then immediately straightened as he noticed his son.

"So son… you've known about your engagement for a week, and you finally got to meet up with your fiancé, how do you fe-"

"I don't want to talk about it." Sesshomaru cut in.

"Oh come now, Sesshomaru." Izayoi chided him," please?"

"I'm going out." He informed them curtly, as if his step-mother had never spoken.

"While you're out… get Kagura some flowers!" Inutaisho called after him, as he disappeared around the corner.

As he started his car, Sesshomaru silently seethed about the idiocy of his parents, and the arranged marriage. How dare they do something like this to him?

Remembering his task- to buy flowers for his deplorable wife-to-be – he quickly located the nearest flower shop. But as it turned out… it was owned by a nosy blue haired woman whom Sesshomaru had gone to school with, and he decided not avoid the place.

Driving down the street, he caught a glimpse of white hair- no doubt it was Inuyasha.

As he glanced back, as he waited at the stop light, he saw that Inuyasha was squabbling with a determined looking woman, with long black hair. Her arms were on her hips, and she was shouting angrily at his brother. Presumably this was the infamous "Kagome" whom his brother talked so often of.

Rolling his eyes, Sesshomaru stepped on the gas and continued down the street, when a small sign caught his eye: Shikon Flower Shop.

* * *

Gazing out the window, she saw a tall attractive man, with long white hair, and golden eyes. He couldn't have been more than a few years older than she, and the way he carried himself suggested that he was from a well-to-do family, and that he was very proud.

The bell on the door rang softly as he entered, and a pair of frosty, expressionless eyes met hers.

"Good afternoon sir!" she greeted him, with a wide smile, "And how can I help you today?"

He blinked at her.

"Flowers for my fiancé." He replied evenly, though his expression gave away his disgust at doing so.

"Hmm…" she walked around the side of the desk, and to the flowers, and without looking at him, she spoke a small smile on her face, "you don't get along very well with this 'fiancé' of yours… do you?"

Behind her, she knew he had stiffened.

"I don't mean to be nosy… but is it arranged?"

"…yes."

She grinned slightly, as she walked through the rows of flowers, her hair swinging as she walked.

Sesshomaru followed her silently, entranced by the young woman before him. However much he hated to admit it, she was stunning, in a way, even his fiancé could not be.

This girl - he considered her this way, for she was so young - was bright, full life, and her looks naturally. Her hair flew about her, in long, silky tresses, and her eyes sparkled with feelings. Her lips were a soft cherry blossom pink, and her cheeks were now stained a soft, natural rose.

She was everything that Kagura Onigumo failed to be. Attractive, bright, and innocent.

He was, in no ways interested in her. Or so he told himself repeatedly, as he stoically followed the flitting girl around the shop.

Finally she came to rest beside a cabinet of flowers, and he soon found his arms full of flowers, and sprigs of lavender.

He raised an eyebrow, as he turned his gaze on her.

She smiled blithely, as she dusted the pollen of the flowers off her apron, and blushed slightly under his watch.

As he followed her back to the cash register, she hurriedly murmured, "Carnations - striped ones, that is! Mean, refusal. Lavender means distrust."

Not only was the girl… mildly attractive, but she was intellectual as well.

There was something about the girl….

He nodded his head coolly to her, as he left the shop, wondering impassively, what It could be.

* * *

Rin watched out her window as the man's car disappeared from sight, and sunk into her chair.

He had been, in the least, enchanting. One look, and she was hooked. Those long, silvery locks of hair, the cold, calculating golden eyes… he was a dream. And that was all he would be.

He wouldn't visit again. Why would he? The only repetitive buyers she had, were the fussy old women at Kaede's nursing home, the young lovers, like Koga Mori and Ayame Hana, and her close friends.

He.. Was none of those things. He was, and would be nothing more than a fleeting memory. A shooting star, shedding light on her life, on her heart, in her eyes, for just a moment, and leaving her in the shadows.

He was unattainable.

Yet she wanted so much, to reach up and pluck down that star.


	2. Storm Clouds and Summer Days

_A/n: Sorry for the LONG wait, and short chapter, but I seem to be suffering from Writer's Block right now, and am finding it hard to overcome. However, overcome it I shall! ... -.- _

_Disclamer: I do not own Inuyasha. _

* * *

Chapter Two:

It had been a long month.

He stared icily out the window, submerged in silence as his meddling step-mother and his abhorrent fiancé prattled about everything and nothing, with an occasional remark about the wedding plans here and there.

It had been one month brimming with Kagura's superfluous presence, and he was on the verge of disposing of her himself – and soon. He held no doubt in his mind that it would take less than a year before they would divorce. It was either that, or one of them would meet their untimely end during that time.

Most preferably her.

"Sesshomaru, darling?" The nauseating voice trilled rather silkily, "Would you mind being in charge of flowers? You, after all, did find me those ones last month… they were simply lovely!" There was that seductive tone again. As if he would ever be tempted by such trivial things. He was certain the only thing he could, or ever would feel for her would be contempt.

Flowers. Why flowers? It was common knowledge that he held them in as little regard as his fiancée herself. The roses that littered her apartment, the candles everywhere… Why of all things, flowers?

However, he reluctantly did happen to know a satisfactory enough place to access them…

* * *

She laughed gently to herself as she reread a text message from her friend, and rolled her eyes as she stowed the phone back in the desk, as the rain pattered monotonously on the pavement outside.

She suspected the gray clouds outside held the threats of a storm - and the wind that blustered through the tree's supported her theory.

Smiling sadly, she leaned her head against the wall and sighed. Business had been slow for days - no one wanted to go on a date in such horrid weather. Who wanted to propose, or gift flowers, in the rain?

The bell on the door tinkled merrily.

But then again, there was always that one exception.

Sighing, she didn't bother looking at the door.

"Listen, Miroku, for the last time! I'm not-"

She broke off as she heard a soft, "Hn."

She was almost certain that Miroku could not make that sort of sound.

Blinking, she turned slowly, to come face to face, with her shooting star. Her stormy gray rain cloud that perfected the solitary day.

"Ah… um… H-hello, again." she murmured shyly as she rose to her feet, and scuffed her feet gently against the wooden tiled floor.

She saw him nod to her, out of the corner of her eyes.

She glanced up to meet his gaze, wistfully, as she took in his golden, autumn hued eyes, and tall, lean stature. Her inquisitive glance was met by an intense, probing one, which frightened her.

"Can… I help you sir?" She questioned hastily, regaining her wits, and the use of her voice. She forced a personable, helpful smile on her face, and bit her tongue nervously, hoping that her face was in check.

The man did not seem to see anything amiss…. But it was hard to guess anything about him. His face was blank - flawlessly so. He was a strange, hazy mystery. A handsome one too…

Feeling a blush coming on, she turned her back on him, hoping that he would take this as a prompt for him to respond.

"I have come to pick up some flowers." He told her, most matter of factly, his rich voice soft, and entwined with the tone of one who was used to being listened to, and being obeyed by.

She fingered a nearby display of roses, frowning at the drooping petals, briefly fussing over the presentation until she was sure she was completely composed. Calmly, and unhurriedly, she turned to face him, smile amiable, but not overly so, as she inquired in a businesslike manner, "Did you order in advance?" knowing fully well he had done nothing of the sort. She would've recognized that voice anywhere.

His honeyed orange eyes met hers briefly, before he gave a soft huff, as if he could not believe she had suggested such a thing.

"I am afraid not, Miss…" He paused as she raised an elegant eyebrow in her general direction, and inclining his head slightly.

Realizing he was asking for her name, she stiffened, before murmuring somewhat bemused, "Noto. Rin Noto."

Glancing downwards, she shifted from one foot to another, as she brushed a strand of her long hair over her shoulder, half wondering why she was so nervous all of a sudden.

The stoic man glanced down at her, and gave a small, tense nod.

"Miss Noto." He began again, his voice like a soft, ominous rumble of thunder that sent chills down her back, "I have come to procure some fauna of.. fine quality for my…prospective spouse."

"O-of course." She responded quickly, throwing a casual, albeit uneasy, smile his way, his eloquent way of speaking throwing her off for a moment.

Her quick and easily given smiles were something alien and curious to him. Never before had he met a person who was able to smile with such a little effort, nor someone who's whole face lit up as they did so.

He doubted it could be natural, nor genuine. For someone to have so much happiness in their life was impossible. It was simply not attainable, for everyone had plagues and stressors in their everyday routine.

He himself would admit as much.

Yet this young woman, with her light voice, and glittering chocolate orbs was the embodiment of that sunny day's that the majority of the population enjoyed. Her voice was brisk and lively, her gait playful, aura blinding as the sun.

But he simply didn't care for such things. They were frivolities and nuisances that could distract him from his ambition and reality, things made to bother and detain those who were not he.

So, as the somewhat flustered looking woman, with the many smiles, handed him a receipt for his order of bouquets for his upcoming wedding, reminding him of the pickup time and date, before bidding him a nice day, he gave her a businesslike nod of acknowledgement, before venturing out into the blustery, rainy weather.

* * *

A storm cloud. Rin thought lazily, smiling to herself as she surveyed his retreat from the shop for the second time. Swooping in from no where, with an unapproachable attitude, before going on its not-so merry way, as aloof as it was when it arrived.

She blew a strand of her dark, unruly hair out of her face, before sighing.

She was bored out of her mind. Although the tall, handsome, and intriguing Mr. Takahashi – she had checked the order form for his name, before he had left –had provided some entertainment of sorts for but a few moments, it had been short lived, and so, while the wind cascaded down the sidewalk outside, she emitted another sigh.

Humming absentmindedly to herself, she arranged some sprigs of heather in a vase, wondering absently what it was like to love and be loved.

Of course, throughout her day's at school she had undoubtedly had the occasional, short term crush, but the feelings had never developed much past that, and her love life was near to nonexistent.

Or rather, it was nonexistent, but she liked to think otherwise from time to time, when she would shyly agree to a date with kind young gentleman, and then would usually get stood-up, or would talk herself out of it.

Her humming, diminished to nothing, but yet another dismal sigh, she gave up on her task, before trudging to her desk in utter defeat, her energy seeming to have disappeared with her one and only customer of the day.

One whom was surprisingly hard to forget.

* * *

_A/n: Soo... was it awful? Ok? Please, please review and let me know! I'll try to get another chapter up as soon as I have the time, k?_

_Review~_

_(thanks for reading!)_


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